New Story Idea's
by The Distorted Shadow
Summary: A Dumping Ground For Any Idea That Refuses To Leave My Head. May Include Any Fandom. Rated M For Safety Reasons.
1. Information

Hello everyone.

This ficlet here is a little idea I've been having.

I am almost always coming up with new thoughts and end up writing these new thoughts down and then posting them as new stories.

Then I decided that instead of posting a whole host of new stories and then leaving them, I would put the first chapters down here.

If a particular first chapter gets over 50 reviews then I will probably make it a full story instead of just a first chapter, but it would only be if it has over 50 reviews.

Like I said, this is just a dumping ground for those idea's that force themselves into my head and refuse to leave until I write something down.

I do not have one ready for this just yet but given the number of first chapters I have in the works (like I said, I can't get them out of my head without writing them down) I don't think it'll be too long before I have one up.

Anyway, since that is all I have left to say...

Shadow Out.


	2. Murder Of Black Wings (HP x Nasuverse)

Well, this idea popped into my head when I started to watch the Fate/Prototype special episode, I will admit I didn't watch the whole thing but the magecraft the main character used at the beginning just stuck in my head, and then this idea started forming before it eventually started to solidify.

So this idea is basically a case of 'what would it be like to have a Harry based on your typical Nasuverse Magus be like?' so this is definitely a dark!Harry fic idea.

As for why I chose to involve Crows, well, that is because of two reasons:

1) they are common

2) they are my favorite bird.

Later on in the story, things would get a little bigger in terms of power levels, due to a pair of simple things that would happen in third year.

Anyway, let's get on with this first chapter and remember:

**If You Like This Idea Then Review**

* * *

Harry Potter.

It was a name that many people around the world knew and revered, a name that brought out hope and courage amongst many that had known the fear of living under a genocidal regime inflicted by a power hungry monster.

He was known as a hero, a wizard amongst wizards, the slayer of the dark lord and the-boy-who-lived.

So if anyone could see the hero of the wizarding world as he stood right now, they would wonder what was going on.

Currently sitting on the roof of the school with a blank look on his face, he wondered how he had gotten up there and even more importantly, how his Aunt and Uncle would react to the situation.

It had been about five years since Harry Potter had been left with his Aunt and Uncle at number Four Privet Drive and unfortunately for him… they never pretended to like him. Not one bit.

Which was probably why his cousin Dudley Dursley and his lackeys could get away with hunting him down on a near daily basis.

It was during one of those standard 'hunts' that he had suddenly found himself on the roof and far out of the way of the much heavier boys, though he had no idea how he had actually managed to get up there.

There were no ladders up to the roof, there were no stairs leading to a roof top exit, it was designed purely to keep the rain out of the rest of the building and that was it… so how was he now sitting on the roof while the teachers rushed about and tried to get him to stay still while the fire service arrived.

They didn't need to shout so much, he had no intention of going down until he was sure that Dudley and his gang wouldn't be chasing him again.

[Caw!] and almost instantly, Harry found himself jerking in shock and nearly falling from his perch before looking towards the source of the noise.

A large, black bird with a hood of silver feathers covering its head.

The bird looked at him with hungry, almost predatory eyes and the young boy found himself frozen in place as he watched the crow watching him before it suddenly started strutting towards him, tilting its head randomly, as if it was trying to figure out what he was.

The young boy found himself growing increasingly nervous as the bird moved closer and closer before it was finally within reaching distance of the six year old.

And then it simply let out a cackling caw before spreading its wings and flying away.

And then he slipped.

Fear flooded his mind as he found himself falling from his perch, the adults were all shouting but he didn't listen to them… and then he hit the ground… the cold, hard tarmac that replaced the ground.

And his mind focused on the lack of pain as he seemed to bounce before landing a second time and rolling to a stop.

He could hear gasps of shock as he started to lift himself off the ground and looked up to try and see the bird that had caused his fall, only to find nothing in the sky before the teachers ran over to him and started fussing over him to make sure he wasn't hurt.

It was strange, he wasn't used to being fussed over and he just _knew_ he would get in trouble with his aunt and uncle for what had just happened but he was left wondering, how had he come out of that fall unscathed? He'd tripped over a couple of times before and usually ended up with a skinned knee or elbow whenever he did it… so how did he come out better when he was falling from so much higher than that?

The noise of the adults as they tried to ensure he received proper medical attention droned out of his head as he tried to understand what had happened… he had been getting chased by Dudley and his gang, had suddenly appeared on top of the school roof and then fallen to what should have been a very painful position and had come out unscathed as if by magi…

He thoughts froze there.

His knew his aunt and uncle would punish him for even mentioning the M-word, but why were they so obsessed with making sure he didn't say it? Was it possible that magic was real? Was it possible that he could use it and the Dursley's knew it?

He didn't care that he was now being taken somewhere to make sure he didn't have any hidden injuries, he didn't care that the teachers were clearly both concerned and angry at the event that had just occurred.

All he could think of, was that his mind wouldn't have entertained the thoughts he was currently indulging in if it wasn't for that single crow.

XXX XXX XXX

Harry wasn't surprised when his aunt and uncle locked him in the cupboard when he got back later that day, they always did after something went wrong.

But that didn't really matter to him right now.

What mattered to him was a single book he had managed to get his hands on before he returned, an in depth book concerning crows, their myths and legends, their biology and more.

Sure he expected it to be too complex for him but in the end, he wanted to know more about the animal that helped him come to a conclusion about his life… then again, he was just a child and didn't know better than to question his flight of logic.

He didn't know how he could figure out how to use any magic he had, but he was going to try and see if he could get any inspiration from the book he now had in his possession.

And so he sat down and prepared himself for a long and hard read.

XXX XXX XXX

Months passed by quickly for the young boy as he sped through the book he had borrowed from the school library… the teachers where anything but understanding of his decision to research crows, then again, they didn't know what he was thinking as he read every book on them he could get his hands on.

Despite everything, he was making no progress with discovering magic… the books all pointed out that the myths about crows were just that, myths and that magic was not real.

But he didn't care what the book said, he knew magic was real… despite not having any evidence to prove it and so he kept reading, kept trying to find some method of figuring out how a crow could have magic and how it could work.

And no matter how hard he looked, he simply couldn't find it. Magic was proving to be far too illusive for him to find in books… and it was with that in mind that he made his decision… he would just have to look at the real thing.

XXX XXX XXX

It had taken a long time to get what he wanted, a craft knife and a dead crow but now he was finally ready.

Sure he was currently stuck in his cupboard and having to do this in a shallow cardboard box he had managed to scrounge from a local supermarket (he silently thanked the fruit and veg man that had happily given it to him) so he wouldn't make too much of a mess but it was finally time.

He was finally going to figure out how a crow worked from the inside out.

And so he put the corpse in the tray like box and prepared his knife… he had seen them do it on one of those vet shows so it shouldn't be too hard right? And so he placed the sharp point of the knife at the top of the birds ribcage and pressed.

Immediately he felt resistance and found himself squirming at the feeling but he pushed it down and pressed harder,

His head went light and his stomach churned as he began to see the red of the flesh but once again, he just pushed those feelings down and pushed on, and on, never letting himself stop in case he found himself unable to start again.

And so he worked until he was satisfied with what he had seen.

XXX XXX XXX

It had been nearly a year since he first dissected a bird and he would admit, he was making some interesting progress.

Sure it had taken learning about meditation and focusing inside for him to figure out how to use his magic but that didn't change one simple fact… he now had such a thorough understanding of crows that he was capable of applying what he knew of them and creating his own form of magic.

Sure it didn't help that he was being called a problem child, antisocial and many other things on top of being a simple 'freak' but that didn't bother him anymore.

Not when he could conjure feathers with the strength to cut through steel.

But honestly that was about all he had managed to figure out how to achieve, things like growing wings or claws was not yet something he could achieve and carrying souls was so far beyond his understanding that he believed he may very well never reach that level of skill.

However he was at the very least keeping everything thoroughly noted and explained in his journal for later study.

Every time he experimented with his abilities he made sure to write down the expectation, the result and anything that went wrong in the process of achieving that result… which was quite a lot most of the time.

But he knew that the more detail he could keep adding to his notes, the more likely he would be capable of improving his abilities, that much was for certain in the young child's mind (as had been put into it via one of those books on scientific theory he had once tried to read).

But in the end, he was still just a boy trying to create an entirely new system of interacting with the world from scratch and there would always be stumbling blocks along the way.

And with that thought in his head, he simply continued with his attempts at experimenting with his magic and more specifically, seeing if it was possible to create 'areas of effect'.

XXX XXX XXX

Eleven years old.

That was how old he would be in one weeks time.

Not that he really cared about that, he was more focused on advancing his skill with his internal energy and finding new ways of using it.

His research hadn't been useless by any stretch of the imagination, after all, adding all the methods and tricks he had managed to note down had helped him style grow beyond his original expectations… he was after all, capable of not just creating constructs that resembled feathers and could be fired like bullets with his magic, but he had also discovered how to use his magic to read the air currents and use that as a way of keeping track of everything around him and how they were moving.

But outside of that, his greatest achievement was the creation of areas with a predetermined effect… like how he had a barrier around the shed in the garden that stopped anyone that wasn't him from approaching it without developing a crippling headache, stomach pains and lethargy.

And that's not even including the physical barrier that stopped them from getting within five feet of the shed.

Outside of that though, it was his ability to sense magic that had grown the most.

It was that that had allowed him to notice the area of effect that existed around 4 Privet Drive, though he had left it alone after analysing the makeup of it and discovering that it seemed to be keyed into certain intentions and rejected the owner of that intent.

The fact was that knowing someone had put that up around the house made him suspicious but given that he couldn't make out anything else outside of the fact it was powerful and rejected people with certain intentions, he decided to leave it alone since it didn't do him any harm.

And it wasn't like his own AoE's didn't work inside it, plus, despite its power, he had no use for such a thing.

"Boy," Harry didn't bother responding to his uncles greeting as he extracted himself from the cupboard under the stairs and made his way into the dining room, honestly, life at the Dursley's hadn't changed too much, though they tended to be far less aggressive towards him ever since discovering that their attempts at keeping magic a secret from him had backfired spectacularly.

The fact that he had… 'persuaded' them with an AoE was probably the icing on the cake.

Breakfast at the Dursley household was a quiet affair.

Vernon spent it reading his morning newspaper, Petunia spent it eating until she was full and Dudley just stuffed his face as fast as he could.

Harry tended to just do the same as his Aunt and finish the meal before retreating to the shed for the rest of the day.

"Dudley, go get the mail," Vernon gave the usual order and the only one that the rotund boy was ever given, it used to just get shoved off onto the dark haired boy but given that he had long since set up an AoE around the house that he could activate on a whim, which tended to result in crippling pain on the target he singled out.

It had taken his relatives a long time to realise that trying to order him around or deny his 'requests' wasn't in their best interests.

For that reason Dudley had been given the task of getting the mail in the morning and while it had taken awhile, he had eventually come to accept that he had that one job to do in the morning.

And that was why he went to retrieve the post without complaint.

Silence continued as Harry finished off the last of his breakfast and prepared to leave the room when a sensation hit him that made him freeze and look towards the door to the hallway.

Standing there holding the post and looking completely shocked at the top letter was his cousin and within two seconds the raven haired boy had already snatched the letter and started to examine it.

The Dursley's were silent as they tried to figure out what he was doing, he generally didn't care about the post after all… however Harry was busy trying to understand what had caught his attention about the letter in the first place.

It had a matrix of magical energy sewn into it and he found himself unable to read the purpose of that signature but the fact that it was addressed to himself and included the fact that he lived in the cupboard under the stairs (he didn't really care about his sleeping area, only his work area).

"Boy, what are you doing with that?" Vernon asked nervously, earning a blank glance from the boy.

"It is addressed to me… so I was going to burn it," his response seemed to stun the other residents of 4 Privet Drive as he walked towards the fireplace and did exactly what he had just explained and set the piece of parchment on fire without opening it.

He wasn't prepared to open something he had no guarantees against after all.

XXX XXX XXX

The following day, Harry found himself narrowing his eyes upon seeing the mail arrive through the letter box just as he had gotten out of his cupboard, easily noticing the same matrices as the previous day's mysterious letter and dealing with them the same way before deciding it was time to adjust the AoE around the house.

XXX XXX XXX

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore was not an easy man to scare.

He had faced not one but two dark lords in his life and had never once strayed from the path of the light… he had certainly been tempted back in his youth but he had never stepped off the path.

He had stood the test of time, had held three of the most important positions in the wizarding world for decades and was considered the most powerful wizard alive.

But right now he was terrified.

He had been monitoring the wards around Number Four Privet Drive ever since he put them up and everything had seemed correct, plus he had Arabella looking over him ever since he had been left in Privet Drive with orders to inform him if anything happened to the boy.

But now, now he had just discovered that someone had intercepted Harry's acceptance letters before he could read them and even more importantly, that someone had put a ward around the house to reject the letters in their entirety.

But if someone had put up such a system, then Dumbledore was left with only a single option for what was going on… someone didn't want Harry going to Hogwarts and was working towards keeping the boy ignorant of his heritage.

He had initially expected the possibility of Petunia and Vernon refusing to let Harry know about his parents but Hagrid was more than enough to deal with them and beyond that, the half giant would probably be the best person to introduce the boy to wizarding society (if only because he was as unthreatening as a newborn puppy once you got past his size) but now, now he would have to send someone capable of fighting at a high level just in case something went sour… unfortunately, Minerva was too busy with the muggleborns and her own paperwork to do so and Severus hated every Potter with a vengeance even if the boy was the son of Lily… so that already cut three people from the list as he was too busy with his three jobs to go himself.

Professor Flitwick was an option but given his goblin heritage, he doubted the Dursley's would accept him in their house.

Eventually though, he finally made his decision on someone that wasn't too busy, was skilled in Defence Against The Dark Arts and was likely to interact with Harry on a semi-regular basis if he was anything like his father.

XXX XXX XXX

Rolanda Hooch was not exactly the happiest of people as she walked towards Number Four Privet Drive first thing in the morning. Having just been briefed by the headmaster, she knew that the Dursley's hated witches and wizards.

And now she was going to have to deal with them.

Thankfully she wasn't a pureblood and as such knew just how ridiculous their usual choice in 'muggle' attire was to any actual muggles and was as such, walking towards the house dressed in a black business suit with a white shirt and a plain red tie… the fact she had also applied colour changing charms to her eyes to make them look brown instead of yellow like they normally were would only help with her attempts at passing herself off as normal before meeting Harry.

Inside her jacket was a plain white envelope containing a couple of pieces of parchment, ones that were being prevented from reaching the boy, though this time they were free of any charms that were normally set upon them in case the barrier that stopped them reaching him focused on that.

Not that it really mattered anyway, the charms were just to add the address and let the faculty know that the letter had been read by the appropriate party and since she was going to be there to ensure that it happened anyway, such charms were unnecessary.

And so it was with a solid step that she stepped up to the door and rang the bell.

Most wizards would knock on the door and ignore the bell (mainly because they wouldn't know what it was in the first place) but that would only hurt the residents view of her before they had even seen her.

"Hello?" a tall, thin woman with a giraffe like neck and blonde hair that was clearly curled into the style of a standardized fifties housewife… honestly it was almost as if she was trying too hard at being normal that it was abnormal.

"Mrs Dursley?" the witch asked sternly, earning a nod of acknowledgement from the woman, "I am here to speak with you about your nephew."

That got a reaction from the woman, mainly a cringe.

"I see, please come in," the way the woman accepted her into the house was predictable given how she didn't know that the woman she had just invited inside was a witch, "can I get you anything, tea? Coffee?"

The question was clearly designed to try and make her feel comfortable for whatever she was going to be saying but she had no need to accept their offers.

"No thank you, please can you call your nephew here so I may include him in the conversation we are about to have?" she asked, before noting the way the woman's eyes widened at something behind her.

"That will be unnecessary," an unfamiliar voice spoke up from behind her, making her shiver involuntarily… that voice was too dispassionate, too cold and calculating to belong to anyone pleasant.

Which is why when she turned around and found the very boy she had been sent to contact standing there with cold green eyes that bore into her and held a hint of… something she was certain was unpleasant.

"Mr Potter?" she forced down her uneasy feeling, she was just here to deliver a letter and ensure his replay made it back to Hogwarts… and make sure that anyone who was intercepting his mail didn't interfere with his ability to attend Hogwarts.

"That is correct," his voice was still just as cold and his eyes still shone with _something_ unpleasant.

"I am here on behalf of Hogwarts," she started, ignoring the gasp of shock that came from Petunia at that declaration, "school of witchcraft and wizardry, we sent you three letters earlier but none of them were received by you."

"Incorrect," his voice cut through the room like a blizzard chill, the way he stated it so coldly as his eyes never left her.

"What?" she didn't understand what he had just claimed, the charms all stated that he hadn't read any of the letters but he was saying he had?

"I received three letters addressed to me, each possessed an unknown energy matrix and as such, I decided to destroy them in case they were malicious in nature," his statement was cold, calculating and made it clear to the flying instructor that the boy may not have been taught… otherwise he wouldn't call charms and 'unknown energy matrix'.

It did surprise her however, that he was clearly this paranoid if he would destroy any magical letter sent to him.

"Those 'unknown energy matrixes' as you call them, were charms designed to let the sender know if they had been opened and read by the intended recipient," she explained as calmly as she could manage when around such a cold individual, "I have one with me, clear of all charms and addresses since it would appear that someone had starting using a ward to repel any other letters sent to you."

She noted how the boy seemed completely unsurprised by the revelation that someone was stopping him from receiving his mail and briefly considered the possibility that he had created the ward himself before pushing that thought out of her head, the boy didn't even have his wand yet so setting up a ward wouldn't be possible for him yet.

What she did next was simple, she pulled out a blank envelope, knowing that it was the only one she had on her person today, and handed it to the dark haired boy who seemed to scan it for a few seconds, his eyes never leaving her for more than half a second before he proceeded to open the letter.

He quietly examined the sheet of paper that was his acceptance letter into the school, his eyes still constantly returning to her, it was clear that the boy didn't trust her in the slightest, though she wondered why that was.

"And why exactly, should I believe you concerning the existence of this so called 'school'?" his question was one she had never expected to hear, it was just such an uncommon question that no one ever thought of how to respond to it.

After all, the typical muggle raised child was just so excited at the thought of a magical school that they never thought of the possibility of it being a hoax and if they did, then the professor sent to collect them could simply show them that magic was real.

This was different, he had already shown that he was capable of detecting magic, even if he didn't know what it was, which in turn meant that it wasn't the existence of the subjects that he was questioning, but the existence of the school itself.

"Unfortunately, I cannot think of a way to convince you of my authenticity," she admitted, honestly, she couldn't think of how to deal with the boy as he was right now, so she decided to simply be honest with him.

Silence reigned through the room and she took a moment to glance at the Aunt that supposedly hated magic in all its forms… her eyes widening in surprise at the look of absolute terror that graced her face.

She was now certain that something was wrong with the young mister Potter, honestly she had been thinking that ever since she had first heard him… no child should have such a cold and unfeeling voice.

Turning back, she found herself facing a much colder gaze than before and wondered why he was looking at her like that.

"I will accept your explanation," she could tell he was simply choosing not to say 'for now' but it was clear in his tone and she almost winced at it, "now, where do I purchase my supplies?"

She felt relief flood her veins, the Headmaster wouldn't have been happy with her if she had failed to convince the boy to attend but she didn't let that change her actions.

"As the person sent to give you your letter, it is also my duty to escort you to Diagon Alley and assist you with obtaining your supplies for the year," she admitted, earning a narrowing of the child's eyes, "but first, I have something I need to give you."

And with that she fished out a certain, small golden key and held it out to him… only to blink when he refused to take it.

"Mr Potter?" she asked, earning a blank look from the boy.

"It is covered with several of those unidentified… charms, as you call them," he stated bluntly, earning several blinks from her.

"I'm sorry, I forgot to mention, it is the key to your family's vault at Gringotts, the enchantments are to bypass the security on the vault," she noted how he still seemed hesitant to take the key but managed to take it from her hand and give it what she was certain was a thorough examination.

"I take it that Gringotts is the name of a bank or something similar," she simply nodded at his statement, it was clear to her now that the boy was not simply paranoid but quite possibly rather intelligent, quite possibly a Ravenclaw if her guess was correct.

"That is correct, now, are you ready to go with me?" she asked, earning another blank stare from the young boy.

"Yes…" he stated without any enthusiasm before turning to his aunt, "if you try to enter my workshop… I will make you regret it."

Rolanda Hooch could only feel her eyes bulge out at that statement before her blood truly froze at the muggle woman's response.

"I know."

The Headmaster would definitely want to know about this exchange, it looked like the 'Child Of Light' may in fact be the 'Child Of Darkness'.

"Let's go, I would rather not waste anymore time dealing with unnecessary things," his voice cut into the silence and Madam Hooch once again found herself trying to evaluate the boy before her.

The only thing she could say was that she wasn't looking forward to seeing what he would get up to once he arrived at Hogwarts.

She just hoped the Headmaster could save him from whatever darkness was consuming him.


	3. Divine Intervention (HP x Greek Myth)

Well, here is another fic idea that was inspired by one of my own random skits.

The random skit involved a Harry that was a champion of Dibella from The Elder Scrolls series but then another thought popped into my head, _what if Harry was actually raised by a proper goddess of love?_

I looked for stories concerning Harry Potter and Aphrodite/Venus/Hathor/Ishtar but all I could really find were stories that were crosses with Percy Jackson (which I have never read/seen) and had him adopted by Hades... so I decided to start writing one with a love goddess instead.

This was the result of that idea, I was originally planning on making it longer but decided that as a prologue this seemed about right.

As for any concerning myths, legends and religions, they have been played with and do not represent any personal views I may hold (I am an agnostic atheist), and are based around actual myth instead of any series that they may appear in (with some liberties taken concerning their current situation).

Anyway, that is all for now.

* * *

Lily Potter didn't know what she could do.

Voldemort had found them.

Somehow he had managed to bypass the Fidelius Charm and find them, which meant that Peter was either dead, near death or… she didn't want to think of the final option but she couldn't dismiss the possibility… a traitor.

She had been attempting to complete a ritual she had been attempting to create from scratch but time was up, the ritual that was supposed to offer her son protection from the murderous dark lord was incomplete but she had run out of time… if she didn't do anything then he would die.

So she did the only thing she could in the minute or so that was left until Voldemort would find them.

She activated the ritual with her son in the centre of it.

XXX XXX XXX

She couldn't stop herself from letting out a sigh at how her day had gone so far, just like she usually did whenever she was awake.

Her life had been rather boring recently, nothing really noteworthy ever happened in her domain anymore and as such, she usually ended up doing very little whenever she was awake.

Then again, she had a lot of experience with being bored, just like the rest of her 'family'.

"I see you're moping again," she would recognise that voice anywhere, the owner was the closest thing to a father figure she had after all… such a close one that many people believed he _was _her father.

"What else is there to do these days?" she let out a sigh at that admission, she didn't like moping, she was always the passionate one, the one that would always make things lively, though one of her old flings tended to do an even better job of causing trouble than she herself did.

Then again, with a family as large and dysfunctional as hers, it was a wonder there was any semblance of peace at all.

"I know, that the people have forsaken us is unfortunate, but they have made their choices," the tone of depression in his voice was clear to her as she released a simple sigh at the fact that they could no longer involve themselves in the affairs of those they used to oversee.

She could do little more than acknowledge the man as he stood behind her, so she did what she usually did when she was feeling depressed, she looked up, at the cause of that depression.

It was so far away and yet her eyes could see it as clear as day, could transcend the laws of time and space and allow her to watch what was happening on it in real time, just like the rest of her family.

Then she felt it.

It was something she never thought she would feel again, it was a call, a call to her for aid and without even thinking, she focused on the source of that feeling.

A mother using a rudimentary but powerful ritual, one that she had never seen before despite her age, had just been struck down by a man so ugly she wondered if they had been cursed. But that wasn't what drew her attention.

The ritual was to covey her protection onto a toddler, a boy so small he could barely walk.

And the murderer was going to kill him.

She didn't need to think, it had been far too long since she had last been allowed to interfere in the affairs of the people and so she granted her blessing.

And the murderer fell under her power.

"What did you just do?" her 'father' asked with an edge in his tone, an edge she knew all too well.

"A mother performed a ritual to give my protection to her son, I answered," she explained without any preamble, earning an amused snort from the man.

"As long as you didn't overstep your authority," she knew what he meant, they really didn't want to get into another war with _that_ guy again, his power certainly wasn't to be underestimated, though the people seemed to think he was greater than he really was.

And the whole part about him loving everyone… that was just plain wrong.

However the mother had called out to her, that she had called out meant that she had accepted her authority and therefore, she wasn't overstepping any boundaries and with that thought in mind, she watched, watched as a large man took the child from the burning house, watched as the child was moved several dozen miles across the country before being handed over to an old man who clearly wanted what was best for the child but knew he couldn't deliver it no matter how hard he tried.

She watched as he left the baby on the door step of a house and waited for the owners of said house to take the child in.

When they finally did… she knew she had to act again.

The family _hated_ the child, they _hated _a toddler simply because he was related to the woman's sister.

She knew that the boy wouldn't be happy there and she had been asked to protect the boy.

It was never specified what type of protection the boy should receive.

And so she reached out, beyond time and space, beyond the vastness of the universe between them and took the child from the unloving house he had been left at and took him into her own.

"So, what is your name little one?" she asked with a smile, delighting in the fact that the boy already seemed to trust her, not that it was that surprising, most people trusted her, even when she knew she couldn't be trusted.

But this time, this time she was going to act as this child's mother, she would raise him the best she could and hopefully, he may help spread belief of her family back amongst the people.

She put those thoughts out of her head as she looked at the note that was left with the baby, reading the words as easily as any English scholar despite the language not being her primary tongue.

"Harry Potter, that's a nice name for a lovely young man," she said as soothingly as possible, her smile widening a little as she noted the way the boy laughed and wriggled in excitement, "my name is Venus but you can call me mum."

XXX XXX XXX

Zeus was not a happy god, that much was for certain.

"Are you telling me, that you decided to adopt a human child?" he ground out through gritted teeth, honestly, Aphrodite could be one of the more troublesome members of the pantheon and the fact she had interfered more than necessary was definitely going to cause issues with the _other_ gods out there.

Especially YHVH, he tended to cause far more trouble than the other gods when they interfered with Europe and the North America's.

Honestly, the only place where overstepping their boundaries was permitted to any real degree was Asia and that was probably because he had a certain camaraderie with the Deities there given how he had once gone by the name Indra and been a part of their own mythology.

But they would probably have to deal with an irate presence sooner or later and given how the last time they had come into conflict with it, they had been forced to flee the Earth itself and relocate themselves to another Solar System entirety… well, he didn't want a repeat of that performance.

"The boy's mother specifically picked me to protect him… and she didn't put any restrictions on the type of protection I am responsible for," he heard her explain but it wasn't doing anything to ease his growing migraine, "and he wasn't going to be safe from emotional abuse where he was going to be left."

"You know _he_ doesn't care," he decided to try and reason with the goddess of love, "taking the boy in could result in who knows how much death on our part."

He took a single look at her to see if he was getting through to her the seriousness of her decision but the look on her face told him everything he needed to know.

She wasn't going to back down.

And the worst part was that he could understand exactly why she wouldn't back down on this, they had all been left with nothing to do for over a thousand years and the sudden chance to do something to alleviate the boredom was probably worth the danger it posed for most of the pantheon.

He was also of that mindset but as the leader of the pantheon he was required to think with his head instead of his heart… or his lower head, that one had created far too many problems thousands of years ago and it was one of the reasons they had needed to flee the system.

"Fine, I will put it to a vote, if the majority are in favour of you keeping the child, then it can stay," he relented, knowing that things would almost definitely grow far more difficult in the years to come.

XXX XXX XXX

It had been decided, they would keep the child and risk YHVH's wrath.

The fact that he had expected that outcome only made it even more annoying because it meant that he had quite literally just given in to the girl's stubbornness… he was supposed to be the stubborn one dammit!

"Now the problem is making sure _he _doesn't destroy us all," he muttered under his breath, his mind racing over ways to placate the being when a voice he hadn't heard in a long time spoke out of the darkness.

"That will be unnecessary Zeus… or have you changed your preference recently?" the voice was feminine and mocking, clearly indicating that the one speaking felt they were far above him.

"Atropos, I was not expecting to see one of the fates here," he answered as calmly as he could. In some myths he could command them, in others he was their father… in reality he was but a pawn to their whims, just like everything else in existence.

The three fates were one of those rare beings that transcended existence and possessed absolute power over everything, when they decided something, it was followed perfectly… and they decided everything.

Including the spread of Christianity and the end of the Classical Pagan Religions in the West.

For that he would forever have issues with the three sisters (though it was debateable that there were three of them and that they weren't just one all encompassing existence that tended to manifest itself as three individuals to interact with those that exist lower than it), even if he refused to let it affect his interactions with them.

"Yes, however I have come here to inform you that Aphrodite's decision to adopt the boy is predestined and as such, YHVH cannot interfere," her voice was laced with amusement, probably taking some form of pleasure in seeing the reaction Lachesis had given him this time.

The fact that he realised that meant that the allotter had decided to throw him a bone after so long.

Sometimes he really hated being fates plaything.

"I assume that whatever you have in store for the child will become clear sooner or later," he knew that even if he was told, he would be incapable of escaping fates machinations and the boy would fulfil his role sooner or later.

The smirk he received in response told him exactly how correct he was.

"I will be seeing you later," and with that one statement, the manifestation of fate vanished as if it had never been there.

Letting out a sigh, he was left thinking that the only thing he could do, was prepare the child for whatever task he was destined for.


	4. Harry Potter: Champion Of Life (HP x ES)

This is another little idea that popped into my head while thinking about the ending of the Chamber of Secrets and how Harry got his hands on the Sword Of Gryffindor.

The thought of what would happen if a Daedric Prince decided to get involved.

And which would have more reason than Meridia?

So this is a cross between Harry Potter and The Elder Scrolls.

* * *

Harry Potter was terrified.

He was currently facing off against a thousand year old basilisk and all he had was his wand which he barely knew how to use, a phoenix that had managed to gouge out the beasts eyes and an old ratty hat that sorted children into their houses at the start of the year.

So in other words, he was screwed and he knew it.

"Help me, help me," he muttered quietly as he held the hat over his head, silently regretting his decision to come here alone, "please help me."

That was when everything in the chamber froze in surprise.

**"Very well mortal,"** he easily noted that the voice came from the Sorting Hat but it was definitely _not_ the hat's voice, it was _far_ too powerful and feminine to belong to the ragged old hat, **"but in return, you must fulfil a task for me."**

And with that statement, Harry found a weight drop from the confines of the hat and onto his head.

Taking the hat off he was greeted by the sight of a beautiful sword, it's blade a soft greenish grey, it's handle a decorative obsidian and… was that a _star_ contained within the hilt?

There was only one thing he knew about this weapon… it was powerful.

And then the Basilisk lunged, he didn't know what else he could do and so he swung the sword with reckless abandon, hoping to stop the beast from devouring him but as soon as the sword struck the serpent he was forced to stop as a powerful blast of _fire_ erupted from the weapon and burned the monster he was facing.

His mind froze at that, this sword that had been gifted to him by whatever it was that talked through the Sorting Hat was powerful enough to _wound_ a Basilisk without even getting a good hit on it… he gulped as he wondered just what had answered his plea.

But that didn't matter, Harry found himself finally understanding what he had to do.

So he lunged towards the squirming snake and plunged the weapon into the thick skull of the monster.

He had not expected the blade to sink through the skin so easily but in the end, it only made the beasts death that much quicker.

Riddle for his part was just staring in shock as the monster that had terrorized the school for most of the year was struck down by a _twelve year old boy!_

**"Destroy the abomination!"** the unknown voice called out from the hat once again, **"plunge my blade into the diary and destroy the undead!"**

Harry didn't need to be told twice as the very diary he had been commanded to destroy was dropped before him and almost as if he finally understood just how precarious his situation was, Riddle raised his wand for the kill.

Before a horrific scream pierced the air and Harry found himself watching Riddle twist and distort as the diary burned before the power of the sword impaling it.

And then he was gone.

It was as if the eventual dark lord had simply ceased to exist as Harry looked at the ashes of the diary that had caused so much trouble.

Harry simply stood there in stunned silence as he noted that he had indeed managed to win before looking at the sword once more.

"I wonder who that voice was," he muttered to himself.

**"I,"** he felt himself jump as the voice spoke up once more, **"am Meridia, the Daedric Prince Of Life."**

Harry felt himself blanch at that description… he had thought the voice was a woman and it was a _prince_?!

"Y-you're a man?!" he couldn't stop himself, it was just such a ridiculous idea that the voice could possibly belong to a male that he couldn't stop himself from blurting it out.

He immediately covered his mouth as realisation struck him that it probably wouldn't take kindly to that comment.

**"Foolish mortal! I transcend gender, I merely choose to appear before your kind as female because your species is too insignificant to comprehend the magnitude of my existence!"** the anger in the voice was clear to Harry but he was surprised that it was angry that he thought it had a gender at all.

"I… I'm sorry," he whimpered, he really didn't want to know what a being that owned a weapon like the sword it gave him could do if it tried.

**"Then complete the task I have for you!"** the raven haired child simply found himself swallowing hard at that command, for that is what it was, as he realised that he had never questioned what this task was, **"you are to destroy the existence named Tom Marvolo Riddle and any other undead you may see!" **Harry found himself blinking at that, from what she said it was probably something he would have to do anyway, **"this task, shall last until you die."**

There was one problem he had with that task however.

"How will I know what you want me to kill?" he asked, only to cower once more as the voice grew angry.

**"You do not kill undead, you destroy them! They are an affront to my existence and shall be treated as such!" **Harry was definitely scared of the voice that erupted from the hat, **"as for your targets, Dawnbreaker shall guide you! Do not fail me mortal!"**

And with that the hat fell silent.

For a few seconds.

"Well… that was a new experience," Harry found himself relaxing at hearing the familiar voice of the Hat as it finally seemed to regain its senses, "and to think, Albus intended on having me give you the sword of Gryffindor and instead you ended up getting contacted by a genuine _god_ and given a divine weapon."

Harry simply stared at the hat at that declaration, it thought that this Meridia being was a god? He didn't even know where to start on that one and so he didn't even bother, instead he let his mind remind him of why he was down there in the first place.

"Ginny!" and with that he turned to face the young girl only to let out a sigh of relief upon seeing her sitting up and staring at him and the hat with wide eyes, "are you alright?"

XXX XXX XXX

It took far longer than Harry thought it would to get out of the chamber, what with how he had to comfort a distraught girl who was scared of being expelled _and_ amazed at the thought of Harry being favoured by a god.

Then he had to get to Ron and past the collapsed tunnel… and then they had to find a way back up the pipe before Fawkes led them to professor McGonagall's office where he had ended up having to explain everything to everyone that had gathered there, which included Professor McGonagall, the headmaster and Mr and Mrs Weasley.

However he couldn't prove the existence of the diary due to it being little more than ash in the chamber of secrets… but the sword was another matter altogether.

Especially when the headmaster reached out to touch it.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you Albus," the Sorting Hat stated seriously, causing the man to freeze, "that isn't some random sword, it isn't even a Goblin Blade… that is a Daedric Artefact."

The fact that the headmaster frowned in confusion at that statement made Harry wonder just how serious the hat really was.

"And what is a Daedric Artefact?" the question was simple and the hat chuckled in response.

"They are objects created by the Daedric Princes, seventeen old pagan gods that haven't been heard from for about a thousand years," the statement caught the others in the room off guard as a simple thought occurred to everyone.

"I'm afraid I have never heard of them," the aged wizard stated with a frown.

"Of course you haven't, the Daedric Princes are not pleasant existences, there are very few that aren't considered completely evil," at that statement everyone in the room froze, "because of that their existence was covered up far more thoroughly than any others… but since I was around back when they were still known about I was imparted knowledge of them in case they ever made a play for Hogwarts."

"If these creatures are evil then why is one giving Harry the task of killing Voldemort?" Dumbledore was getting nervous, if an evil deity was calling for the death of the most recent dark lord then did that mean that the man was in the _right_?

"Because it was Meridia that gave the task," the blunt way the hat stated it caught everyone off guard again, "Meridia is one of the few that wasn't considered completely evil… and she _hates_ all forms of undead with a passion, the fact that Voldemort has earned her ire just means he has been messing around with and corrupting life energy to create unlife."

That explanation seemed to make the old man sag slightly in relief.

"The problem however is that whenever one Prince takes an interest in the world, the others are sure to follow," that made everyone tense once again, "let's just hope Sheogorath doesn't get involved."

"Is that one particularly bad?" Dumbledore was growing very concerned, something which only increased at the non-committal grunt of the hat.

"He can be… but that's not why I'm worried he'll interfere," the confusion that spread through the room was clear to everyone, "it's because he is the Daedric Prince of Madness… as in he is certifiably insane and can't be predicted."

That made everyone look around uncomfortably.

"But seriously, at least the other Princes can be predicted even if they are more likely to try and destroy the world," the hat admitted easily, "though I wonder why they've decided to return after so long."

"What do you mean 'return'?" Harry couldn't stop himself from asking, earning a small snort off the hat.

"The Princes are trans-dimensional beings of infinite power… they have countless other worlds they can terrorize throughout existence," that simply made the raven haired boy gulp nervously, "still, for now, all that really matters is that you are the champion of Meridia and the other princes may start getting involved again."

"And what of the sword?" the headmaster asked, earning another grunt from the hat.

"It is a Daedric artefact given to young mister Potter, I would advise that only he try touching it… there is no telling what would happen if someone else tried," the hat explained, "plus, given his task, I think it will probably be necessary for him to keep it on him at all times."

Harry for his part found himself idly wondering how he would be capable of carrying such a weapon everywhere with him before remembering something that he didn't previously think about.

"I could use my invisibility cloak to hide it," he stated, earning a raised eyebrow from the others in the room.

"Ah yes, that would probably be best, though I will ask that you don't use the weapon unless you have to," the old man stated with a smile.

"Albus! You can't seriously be saying you're going to let him just carry such a thing with him all the time?!" McGonagall practically shouted in disbelief.

"I don't really see what other choice we have," the old man admitted, "if what the Sorting Hat has told us is true then to deny Harry the sword would be to go against a god and I don't think I'm powerful enough to protect the school if a god decides to take retribution on us."

The grimace that adorned the Head of Gryffindor's face was clear to everyone.

"Now Mr Potter, Mr Weasley and Mrs Weasley," the old man started while directing his attention towards the three youngest in the room, "I think it would be a good idea for you to be looked over at the hospital wing… and if you could please take Mr Lockhart with you I would be most appreciative."

"Yes headmaster," Harry responded calmly as the group left with the clearly bewildered Lockhart.


	5. Mind Of Steel (FSN)

Alright... wow... the Doc Manager doesn't even accept alright as a real word O_O

Anyway, sorry about getting distracted there.

So about this fic, it has been on the back burner for awhile so I decided to finally get the first little part of it out.

For those of you who can't make a guess from the title, this is a Fate/Stay Night fic... more specifically a continuation of the 'Mind Of Steel' bad end.

Since I was always curious of how it would go if it ended up that way.

Anyway, for those of you who don't already know, I have a forum accessible from my profile which includes a thread on this collection and what I should do with the stories contained within.

So if you haven't already, please go and have a look and post your opinions about any of the fics you read in here... or anywhere else on my profile.

Now that that is out of the way...

**If You Want This Story Continued, Then Leave A Review And/Or Visit My Forum**

* * *

"I'm sorry Ilya, I can't follow such an obvious thing," I said as my mind focused on the one thing that has kept me alive for so long.

I turn my mind to steel, dulling the pain that I had been feeling up till then. The gastric juices, the pain in my stomach and the tears all come to a halt as I focus on my convictions.

For the sake of those that could not be saved, that died when I lived, I couldn't let anymore share in their fate.

"…I see," a young girl with snow white hair and blood red eyes said from my side, the look on her face one of both pity and despair, "so you're choosing the same method as Kiritsugu, you're going to cast away the person you love the most for the people you don't even know about."

A long drawn out silence filled the park we were sat, she was obviously thinking of my father's decision to leave the Einzberns for something he believed in.

It's only natural when I have just chosen to walk the same path as him.

This would make it twice that Ilya had been betrayed, after all, by not choosing Sakura I have proven that I wouldn't choose her either.

"That's right, me and Kiritsugu are the same," I state with a firm resolution in my voice, "if you want to curse someone, then you can curse me."

My mind is now just cold, hard steel, something that can weather her scorn without buckling even slightly.

Once again silence reigned as the young girl looked down, her eyes showing a sadness that I could no longer comprehend.

She wanted me to live for myself but I just cannot do something like that, it was the antithesis of everything Emiya Shirou stood for, so if any time was right, then it would be now, when I am just starting on the path that my father once walked, that she should strike me down and exact her revenge on Kiritsugu.

"I pity you Shirou," she says in a voice barely more than a whisper but it rings clear in the park that night, "you're going to be deceiving yourself forever with that crying face of yours."

With a fading smile and a forlorn expression, the white haired girl left me to my own devices.

That was all she could do for a piece of metal like me.

I idly note that it has started to rain and I'm now the only person in the park.

And so it was with an unfeeling heart that I decided to return to the church where the rest of my life would be determined.

XXX XXX XXX

I opened the large, wooden door and note that a girl in red and black was already here, standing in the corner with the same look of determination on her face as the one on my own.

If the crest worm within Sakura's body isn't removed, then she will do what is necessary, just as I am prepared to do.

Right now, the two people in the chapel are not teenagers, right now, we are both Magus's.

Neither of us say anything to each other, she doesn't speak to me and I have nothing to say either, this is just a necessary situation.

The door to the back of the chapel eventually opened to reveal the brown haired priest that had operated on the girl that was the source of my current state of mind. He was someone I took an immediate dislike to the moment I saw him without ever realising why, but now I simply see the truth.

He is dangerous.

But it is the news he brings that truly matters right now.

"The operation is complete, there is nothing more I can do," he speaks with the crisp baritone he usually speaks in, no hint of emotion playing on his features as he gave the verdict.

"…So, how's Sakura, Kirei?" the girl in red, Tohsaka Rin, asked, her voice clearly nervous despite her resolution to do whatever is necessary.

"I have done my best, that is all I can say," his answer said it all… Sakura couldn't be saved. Sakura would have to die.

It was clear that Rin was upset at the outcome as her cold, magus mask fell to reveal a deep sadness, the sadness of knowing the sister she had never gotten to know would have to be put down for the safety of the city.

"Matou Sakura is currently sleeping, she should wake up tomorrow morning," the priest informed her with his ever constant tone, "what will you do as the successor of the Tohsaka family Rin?"

"I don't even need to say it, it is the supervisors duty to eliminate a magus that has turned into a heretic," her mask of coldness was firmly back in place as she made her statement, "all the more so if the magus is a relative of mine."

She starts to walk towards the back of the chapel, probably to the room where Sakura is sleeping before she stops and says something I should've expected her to say.

"Aren't you going to stop me, Emiya-kun?"

It is as if she doesn't want to go through with the act but doesn't want to appear unsuitable for her position as a magus in control of an area and so she looks at me as if expecting me to turn my back on my ideals and try to save the girl she was going to execute.

I don't bother saying anything for there is nothing to be said.

For an instant Rin's face crumpled into one of desperation before firmly setting itself back into the cold mask she bore as a magus.

"So you won't mind even if I kill Sakura?" she asked me clearly, it was clear that she was stalling and perhaps even attempting to use me as a reason to spare the girl.

If so then she would be sorely mistaken.

"I have nothing to say… but if I can take your place then I will," I told her, letting her know that I would not budge on this matter.

Her eyes widened in shock at my proclamation before once again going back into the cold magus persona she had crafted for herself.

"No, this is my role, I can't give you this role," she stated as coldly as she could manage before opening the door to the back of the chapel and walking inside, leaving me alone with the priest I could never stand.

"I'm surprised, I thought you'd stop her," he told me in his usual monotone.

Silence was my only answer, something that seemed to earn his amusement as he let out a small chuckle.

"It seems you are determined," he stated before continuing, "the Holy Grail War will now return to normal. This is a bit disappointing but I am looking forward to the end."

"What's there to look forward to? Are you predicting who will win?" I asked, my mind more concerned about any information I could gleam from the man's words than anything else.

"Predict? There is no need to predict," he told me with a conviction as clear as my own, "you will win. Since you have cast away Matou Sakura, you will use any means possible to kill Matou Zouken, Ilyasviel and Rin, I am saying I am looking forward to how this will end."

I considered his words before responding with what I believed to be the case.

"Why? I won't fight Tohsaka, there's no reason for me to stop her even if she's going to obtain the Holy Grail," I inform him calmly, earning a smirk in return.

"You will fight her," he assured me with that smile that used to infuriate me so much, "you will be forced to fight her when you find out about the true identity of the Holy Grail. Having killed Matou Sakura, Rin will go mad unless she obtains the Holy Grail. She will try to win for her belief and you will try to destroy the Holy Grail for you ideal. You two are incompatible with each other now and will enact out the final stage of the Holy Grail War."

With his lecture given, the priest turned his back on me and started walking towards the door.

"Are you saying I will remain until the very end?" I ask him, regardless of the fact I turned my mind to steel, knowing that man's thoughts was a useful thing given how he was a participant in the previous war.

"Of course, you are Emiya Kiritsugu now, there is no way you cannot win," those were his last words as he left the room.

Standing there, with no one else to bother me I consider the things the priest told me.

Out of everything, one thing stands out more than anything else in my mind of steel.

The True Identity of the Holy Grail.

What did he mean by that? Where could I find out the truth concerning the prize for this war?

I would have to think on everything if I ever wanted to get anywhere in my current condition.

Kotomine called me Emiya Kiritsugu but he was wrong, I am not Emiya Kiritsugu, unlike him I have no magecraft of any worth, unlike him I don't have the resources to pull this victory off.

So I would have to go back home, think on the situation and come up with a plan to help me get through the Grail War and stop whatever damage could possibly be caused by this pointless war.

The first thing I would have to do is determine exactly what I know of my enemies, that was actually the easy part.

Tohsaka Rin was the Master of Archer, a hero that wielded twin Chinese Blades despite his class being one for long distance combat.

Ilyasviel Von Einzbern was the Master of Berserker, the unstoppable Behemoth that could take the strongest attacks without flinching.

Matou Zouken was the Master of Assassin, the servant that specializes in killing masters.

And lastly, there was Rider.

I didn't know what her condition would be given the fact her previous master was Sakura and she had just been executed by Rin. It would be inconvenient if Rider attacked me for not saving Sakura but as a servant she shouldn't last long without a master and maybe… maybe Sakura gave Rider orders about what to do after she died, she did seem rather conscious of it before when she asked me if I would kill her if she was a bad person, so was it possible that she could have made plans for this situation? She was a magus whether I knew it or not so it wasn't unlikely but I shouldn't put my hope in something like that.

Letting out a breath I proceeded to leave the church, while I could potentially kill Rin before she became a danger, I wasn't ready, she was a magus and her skills were far beyond my own meagre attempts at reinforcement and structural analysis, so I would need something to even the playing field before attempting to deal with her.

Plus there was the matter of having her use her Archer to at the very least weaken Berserker or Assassin. Yes, that would be a more effective use of her presence, Ilya wouldn't be too hard to deal with if I could catch her off guard and get past Berserker.

The real problem was Zouken. That man was clearly not human and he had those parasitic worms of his to help keep him alive, so killing him would require an immense amount of planning and most likely resources that I didn't have.

That was a problem that I would have to try and overcome if I wanted to win this war and save as many lives as possible. All I had right now was an insignificant amount of magecraft that I cannot even use without intense preparation but the question is, where could I get other resources?

Maybe…

Yes, that might work, Fujimura Raiga was the head of a local Yakuza group and knew my father, maybe he would be able to help me by giving me some more mundane resources.

The question was whether or not he knew what dad did and if he would help me follow in his footsteps. The man did treat me like a grandson so it is possible that he would try and stop me from walking down the path I've chosen… especially since I know it would break Fuji-nee's heart to see me like I am right now.

But one broken heart was nothing compared to thousands of human lives.

"Sakura is dead," a monotonous voice came from beside me as I walked away from the church but my mind focused on what this situation could become soon.

"Yes, we couldn't save her," I told the violet haired Servant that had taken to walking beside me.

Silence reigned for several seconds before the blindfolded rider class servant spoke once more.

"Sakura ordered me to protect you," her voice was quiet and dull but melodic at the same time, it was the voice of a person that possessed inhuman beauty but that wasn't something that truly mattered to me… no, what mattered to me was that this could be what I need right now.

If she chose to keep to Sakura's orders then I could potentially gain a servant to use in the Grail War once again… that is if I still had my command seals.

"That doesn't make any difference, since I lost my command seals I cannot support you even if I knew how to form a contract," I informed her in a monotone far duller than her own.

"Do you have the will to fight as a master?" her question made me close my eyes and think about what had happened previously, of how Saber died because of my incompetence and how Rider saved me from Zouken's attack despite his position as her masters grandfather.

I had given up the will to fight as a master because I had considered myself a failure and believed that Saber was the only partner I could fight beside.

But now, now those feelings of sentiment were nothing more than a distraction from the real matter at hand, that I needed a weapon to fight with in the Grail War if I wanted to make sure that the innocent survived and that meant that I had to fight as a master once again.

Looking at the back of my hand I was greeted by the sight of the command seals that had previous vanished with my will to fight as a master once again contrast sharply on my pale flesh, proof of my participation in the Grail War.

"I do," it was a simple response, something that combined with my gaze towards my hand would tell the servant everything she needed to know, "how do we create the contract?"

I knew that she only had about a day of life left if she didn't form a contract with a new master, one of the benefits of having C ranked independent action… but that didn't change the fact that she would be better off making a contract sooner rather than later.

"Open your circuits, propose the contract and I will accept," once again she didn't speak more than necessary, she was clearly a servant of few words but that suited me, I needed her to act as my sword against the other servants, nothing more, nothing less.

Taking a breath I stopped walking and held out my hand that was currently in possession of the command seals before thinking over my wording and forging my magic circuit like I had done for so many years.

"I hereby propose a contract, will you become my sword for this Holy Grail War? Will you obey my every command without question and dedicate yourself to my victory?" I asked seriously, I needed a weapon that was prepared to work for me even if the situation became dire, even if what Kotomine hinted at about the Grail was true.

"I accept your contract," those were the only words that left her mouth but my mind was suddenly assaulted by an immense pain as I felt prana I had never had course through my body, reacting in response to the contract.

I'm certain that if I hadn't turned my mind to steel earlier I would've cried out in pain.

Despite the physical pain that assaulted my body, I was still capable of making out the expression on the servants face, the small quirking of her lips that indicated a certain level of enjoyment upon seeing me in obvious pain, not that it was surprising, all it did was confirm one thing for me.

Rider was Sakura's.

She hadn't served her because she had to, she did so because she wanted to and was only allying herself with me because Sakura had told her to.

The servant of the mount did not like me but that was acceptable, I had no alternatives to choose from and so as long as I could rely on her not stabbing me in the back, something I doubt she would do given how easy it would've been to kill me instead of form a contract, so I would use her and win this war.

It didn't take long to recover enough to move and when I did, I felt a constant hum coming from my circuits, proving that the contract had been established and as such I decided to allow my circuit to return to its natural state as a nerve, it may not be the best thing to cut off her prana supply but I couldn't manage much while concentrating on keeping my circuit formed.

But the hum didn't stop.

My non-existent circuit still hummed with prana and I immediately tried to figure out what was going wrong before noticing that I was beginning to feel light headed and without any more words leaving my mouth, my world turned dark.

XXX XXX XXX

What happened?

Where am I?

Those were the two main thoughts that invaded my mind when I regained consciousness.

The next thought was about how half my body seemed to be asleep.

Thinking back on everything I knew, I looked for any condition that fit the symptoms, quickly coming with only one that fit my current state accurately.

I had somehow suffered a stroke.

That was certainly an inconvenience, especially when the Grail War has just returned to its normal state, especially given that my only residence was well known and completely unfortified.

"You're awake," the statement from the feminine voice broke me out of my analysis of the situation and reminded me of what happened before I lost consciousness.

"Yes, what happened Rider?" I asked as calmly as I could manage with the pain lancing through my head and the rest of my body.

"You passed out after creating a contract with me," she stated without any emotion in her tone.

I let out a small breath as I once again focused inside myself and found a steady stream of prana flowing through my body, something I knew was strange, especially given the fact I wasn't focused on maintaining a circuit from a nerve and so I did the only thing I could think of.

"Trace On," with prana already flowing through my body I didn't have to focus anywhere near as hard as I did before in order to use structural analysis and for the first time in my memory, I tried to analyse my own body.

My mind was assaulted by knowledge of body's condition and most importantly, the knowledge of my circuits… all twenty seven of them. That was enough to give me pause, I knew I only ever created a single circuit and even then doing something like that was dangerous, after all, changing the wrong nerve could result in me losing control of a vital organ and literally killing myself, so why was it that I have twenty seven active circuits right now?

Dammit, this just doesn't make any sense, all my life I had been having difficulty turning a single nerve into a magic circuit and now I am suddenly creating twenty seven active ones in my body? Or was there something else I was unaware of, perhaps if Tohsaka was still my ally I would be capable of asking her but after last night… after last night we no longer have a reason to help each other.

Plus there was what that bastard priest had told me before.

_you will be forced to fight her when you find out about the true identity of the Holy Grail_

Just what did he mean by that? What was it about the Grail that I don't know and how can I find out about it?

I shook my head and for the first time since waking up, I opened my eyes, revealing a familiar ceiling, one that I had woken up to for a little over a decade.

Looking to my side I was greeted by the sight of the violet haired servant as she knelt next to my futon and continued to stare in my direction despite the blindfold that obscured her eyes from the world, it was clear that despite her previous statement about me waking up and then answering my question about what had happened, she had no inclination about speaking with me any further.

That was fine with me, I didn't form a contract with her for company after all.

I tiredly tried to lift myself from my position on the floor, meeting a massive amount of resistance from my body at the act but I ignored it, I had more important things to do than stay in bed and rest.

The first thing I needed was an advantage, something that could allow me to fight Tohsaka and end her life if it really came down to it but I was limited in my options.

My magecraft was practically non-existent, my hand to hand skills were nowhere near enough to overcome her magecraft and even if it was, I would need to get close enough to her to get a killing blow in.

Sure I could attempt to have Rider eliminate Tohsaka for me but I would need her to keep Archer busy, after all, despite her superior abilities, there was no guarantee Rider could kill him if it came down to a fight between noble phantasms.

Her noble phantasm may be A+ but his was unknown.

That was the scariest part of dealing with Archer, I didn't know anything about his noble phantasm, even its rank was a complete mystery despite my ability as a master allowing me to see my opponents status.

It was just such a dangerous situation that I couldn't bring myself to dismiss it.

Not that I would let it stop me from finishing the Holy Grail war, it just meant I would have to be especially careful around Tohsaka and her servant.

I just needed to find a way to neutralize Tohsaka's ability to defend against me, which honestly, is no small task.

And that wasn't even taking into account what I would have to do if I ever wanted to distract Berserker enough to eliminate his master.

"..."

I felt a brief tang of guilt at that.

But I squashed it before it could bloom into a greater weakness.

I had to kill Ilya, regardless of our previous interactions, she was an enemy and if what Kotomine had said about the Grail was true, then she would have to die to ensure that whatever was wrong with it didn't affect anyone.

"Rider, astralize," and with that command, Medusa turned into a purely spiritual being and the drain on my reserves was reduced.

For now, I had two goals, obtain resources that could allow me to take out the other masters... and find information on the Grail and it's nature.

So it was with my body aching and my stomach churning that I made my way out of the house I had lived in most of my life.

I had a Yakuza boss to meet with.

If I was going to win this war, then I needed firepower.


	6. A Devil's Wings (Sekirei x SMT3)

Hello everybody, here is another little first chapter that demanded my attention.

It will probably start off appearing a bit angsty but I don't intend on the whole thing being that way.

Still, it is a simple concept, a crossover between Sekirei and Shin Megami Tensei 3: Nocturne... following the Freedom ending (also known as the one where he restores the world to how it was before the conception/apocalypse).

That also means that the Hitoshura will be very different to how he is in my other fic involving him, but then again, this time he is the protagonist as opposed to the antagonist, so that is to be expected.

I also plan on throwing in some aspects of other SMT games but anyway, I hope you all enjoy it and remember, if you like this idea, review.

* * *

A sigh escaped his lips as he looked over the gathered crowd.

How long had it been since that day?

Ten? Twenty years?

He'd lost track of it all in the hustle and bustle of everyday life.

Not that it mattered, it wasn't like a decade or two was really worth that much to him.

Not when he knew from his 'friend' that despite looking like he did before that day, he was still the same as he was by the end of that day.

Leaving the store he had been window shopping through, he pulled out his phone and stared.

It had been a long time since he had left his family and he had put off speaking to them ever since… and all because of a single reason.

How was he supposed to explain to them why he still looked about fifteen years old when he was over double that age?

Sometimes being ageless was such a pain.

He let out a sigh as he started to tap the screen on the mobile communication device, at least there was one person he could always talk to whenever he was feeling down.

The phone rang for several tones, as he walked along the street, the new piece of technology pressed against his ear.

_"Hello Naoki-kun,"_ he let out a smile upon hearing the voice of the woman that had put him into his current predicament, the woman that ended the world.

"Hello Yuko," his voice was soft, he still remembered the time he was one of her students at high school but their relationship had grown significantly since the recreation of the world as it was before being destroyed by her… she was his only human confident after all.

_"Getting lonely again?"_ the feminine voice that came from the other side of the speaker was clearly sad, then again, she was the only person who remembered the world during the stage between its death and reformation.

"Yeah, sorry for disturbing you," he wouldn't lie to her, not when it was the conversations he had with her that had helped him cement his resolve to restore the world to the way it was before the conception.

_"It's alright, I know how hard it is for you given your… circumstances,"_ she never spoke it out loud just in case anyone overheard but he didn't care, they were more than capable of talking with each other that way and fully understanding what the other was saying.

"Thanks, I would speak with my _other_ friends but they don't understand me the same way you do," that was an understatement if there ever was one… after all, he had a human heart and they didn't.

Not even the Pixie that had been with him since the beginning truly understood him, sure she tried to and learned how to interpret what he thought and felt but she didn't truly understand him in a natural way.

Though knowing she was there for him and willing to learn about humans to get closer to him was in itself something that made him happy.

_"I know, they just don't think along the same lines as you do do they?"_ he smiled at that, Takao Yuko, his old teacher had always understood and trusted him… sometimes he had wondered just why she had put so much faith in him during the conception but he cleared his head of that thought, in the end the only answer that ever popped into his head was that her feelings for him were _not_ those of a teacher.

It didn't help that he could see it in her eyes whenever the met face to face, pain.

Was it the pain of knowing that she would eventually die and leave him without a confident?

Or was it the pain of someone looking at someone they loved suffer?

He didn't know but he hoped she didn't love him, because he knew they could never be together in that sense… he just knew his heart wouldn't be capable of surviving losing her if she was anything more than a confident.

Then again, it was that heart that had kept him human despite his demonic body.

_"Where are you now?"_ her voice was soft as it usually was and he found a small, sad smile grace his lips as he remembered that she wouldn't be there forever.

"Shibuya," he answered easily as he continued to walk through the street.

_"So you're back in Tokyo again," _he smiled wryly at that, it was something they both did, after all, it hadn't been long ago that the city had been renamed 'Shinto Teito' by that nutjob of a CEO, Minaka Hiroto… honestly, who buys out enough of a city that they're allowed to rename it?

"Yeah, I'm back, hopefully I'll manage to get a temporary job soon enough," that was pretty much the only type of job he could do… if he got anything permanent then he would run the risk of others noting his lack of aging and that would cause even more problems for him.

_"Do you need any money or somewhere to stay?" _her question was one he was used to receiving from her. She knew that unlike her he couldn't hold down a job and tried to look out for him.

Sure he could have always become self employed… a repairman or something like that, however the problem was getting the training and qualifications to actually do a proper job of it.

After all, doing a proper job would result in him getting good reviews and getting good reviews was the key to succeeding in the independent market, especially with the Internet being even more popular than ever.

"I could do with somewhere to stay while I'm looking for some work," he admitted, he didn't want to commit any crimes since he could always have his image taken at some point.

Which would be very bad for him… after all, getting a criminal record of any kind could make him recognisable to people he would rather not be recognised by and could come to bite him in the ass if he was ever noted to have not aged at all since his previous picture… knowing that there was someone that didn't age would bring plenty of people after him… and the fact was he didn't want to slaughter everyone that went after him.

_"Will you be coming over right now?" _her voice sounded hopeful and he just knew that she wanted him to stay with her, even if only for a couple of months.

"That depends, are you free now?" he asked, hoping that he wasn't going to inconvenience the only human he had any real connection to by coming around before she was ready for him.

_"Yes, I just need to get a few things done first," _he immediately noted the sound of crinkling foil and had to let out a heartfelt chuckle, despite her calm and kind demeanour and the air of competence she gave off, her house was almost always a mess.

"It's alright Yuko, you know I already know how messy your place can get," he told her with amusement clear in his tone.

_"I know… but I prefer it being clean when you come around," _her tone made it clear to him that she probably wanted to let herself feel like she made a good impression on him… whether as her student or something else wasn't something he was entirely certain of.

"Well, I'll be there in a little while, see you soon," he said as he walked towards the train station.

_"Yes, see you soon Naoki-kun," _and with that the conversation finished and he looked up at the schedule before letting out a sigh.

Looks like he just missed the train.

XXX XXX XXX

Naoki walked along the street towards his old teachers house once again, his mind going over the fact that he was once again going to see her after the five years that had passed since he was last in Japan.

He idly wondered if she was surprised he hadn't mentioned that he was returning… then again, he had been travelling the world randomly ever since he had decided to leave the country for awhile.

He also wondered if her neighbours would recognise him from all his visits before he left… he expected they wouldn't given how he hadn't really visited her that often after graduating high school, instead just sporadically showing up and spending time speaking with the one person he could tell anything.

Looking at the street itself it was clear that not much had changed… except that the large house next door to his old teachers house was now advertising itself as an inn and that there was a woman standing outside the gate sweeping the pavement but outside of those minor differences, everything looked the same as it always did.

"Hello there, are you lost?" the woman sweeping the street asked casually, earning a strained smile from the man.

"No, I'm just going to see an old friend," he admitted. It wasn't much of a problem, he could tell that this woman wasn't the same one that he had last seen at that house, for the last woman to live there was far older than the woman before him.

That was good, it meant that she wouldn't know him to be able to tell he hadn't aged.

"Oh? I didn't know there were any children your age in this district," her smile was beatific but Naoki found himself narrowing his eyes as her tone spoke of suspicion… and he didn't like dealing with people acting suspicious around him.

"She isn't," he stated bluntly, "she was my old homeroom teacher, Takao Yuko."

"Oh, Takao-san is having a guest? My, I hope she isn't toying with you," he felt his anger rising at that comment, while it was said with a hint of joviality that made it clear she wasn't being completely serious, there was an underlying note in her tone that made it clear she wasn't being entirely frivolous either.

"She is my closest friend and only confident… if you want to sling accusations around about immoral activities then I swear, I will make your life a living hell," he told her seriously, earning an amused smile off the woman.

"Oh? It sounds to me like someone has a crush on their teacher," the woman was clearly saying that to try and get under his skin this time and not make accusations about Yuko herself.

And that completely changed how he felt about it.

"I don't know," he was slightly amused by the surprised look on the woman's face at that admission, "what I do know is that any romantic relationship between us wouldn't work out."

It seemed that his admission caught her off guard.

"Anyway, I'm going to be staying with her for a little while, I might see you around," he admitted, earning an amused smile off the woman.

"Oh? And what do your parents think about that?" she asked him easily.

"It doesn't matter what they think," it was clear that she didn't agree, "and just so you know, I'm older than I look."

"Oh? Then how old are you?" her voice was still holding its hint of amusement.

"Old enough to make my own decisions," he stated bluntly… he had no intention of letting this woman know he was in his thirties.

"Is that so, then you won't mind telling how old that is," she was clearly being nosy and he found himself deciding to simply end the 'conversation' there.

"Old enough to have graduated school," the look of surprise on her face was clear to him and it gave him a chance that he wouldn't miss, "now if you don't mind, I'm expected."

And without any further attempts at a conversation he proceeded to continue on to his old teachers home.

Walking up to the front door was simple and he had once wondered how she could afford to live in such a house on a teachers wage… and when he finally got up the courage to ask her she had told him and it all made much more sense.

It was her family home for three generations.

At least it had been until her grandparents died of old age and her parents had died in a car crash with a drunken driver.

Hearing that had made her inner cynicism and decision to end the world for it to be reborn much easier for him to understand… even if he personally didn't agree with that decision in the end.

He was just grateful she had come to the same decision after all their conversations in the vortex world and was happy that the world was the way it was now… even if it wasn't perfect, a world without freedom was a world without will and not a true world but a well oiled machine with no variables.

Yes he had given up stability for freedom.

Yes he had allowed for suffering in exchange for happiness.

Yes he had allowed for a broken world to be reborn.

So what?

In the end, he was prepared to accept the bad along with the good, he wouldn't let fear of the future drive him… and yes, he knew it sounded hypocritical to say that but the fact was that he wasn't afraid of the future, he just didn't want it to become irritating because he made mistakes when he was younger.

He let those thoughts leave his head as he rang the doorbell and stood waiting for the front door to open.

It only took a few seconds and he was greeted by the sight of the woman that had once destroyed the world.

Just as always, she wore surprisingly stylish clothes, giving her a far more modern feel than most other teachers he had seen. Her shoulder length black hair was still as well kept as ever with not a single grey in sight, however her face was beginning to show signs of her age, with the odd wrinkle here and there… but in the end, he still thought she was beautiful.

"Hello Naoki-kun, it's been too long," and with her greeting he found himself getting hugged… a distinctly uncomfortable experience given how he had Masakados burrowed in his body and nullifying any sensation or damage he could get from physical contact.

It didn't stop him from returning the hug as lightly as he could… he didn't want to accidentally hurt her after all.

"Yeah, it has Yuko," he couldn't stop the smile from gracing his lips as he let those words leave his mouth, it really had been far too long since they had last met face to face after all.

Besides, he was planning on switching to another Magatama later, then he would be capable of actually _feeling _any contact they had with each other.

"Well, are you coming in?" she asked him with an ecstatic smile spreading across her lips.

Without saying anything else he allowed himself to be led into the house and towards the main living area before once again turning towards her.

"Do you want anything to eat?" she asked him as he took a seat on one of her sofa's.

"I'm fine, I had something just a couple of hours ago," he admitted with a soft smile, it was always nice to know that there was still someone willing to look after him despite having to cut ties with most people.

He didn't even keep in touch with Isamu or Chiaki now.

And although Hikawa was aware of his existence, the man knew not to bother sending people after him after discovering the reality of the matter… after all, if he couldn't win a fight with a Reason-God on his side, how did he expect to win with nothing more than a few low level demons?

"Anyway, I'm going to change my magatama now," he informed the woman who gave him a nod of acceptance before turning away from him.

He still remembered the first time she had witnessed him swapping his Magatama over and the look of horror and disgust that appeared on her face said it all.

Then again, the Magatama weren't exactly a pleasant thing to put in your body, especially given the method of 'ingesting' them.

He pulled out one of the sleeping creatures, its body curled up into the shape that was its namesake before preparing it for swapping.

Almost immediately the 'thing' started to squirm before he held it up to his eye and prepared himself for what was to come.

The worm like entity quickly shot towards the exposed sensory organ and started to pierce his defences, forcing itself past the eye while repairing the damage caused by its passage before finding its target location and pushing Masakados out of place and forcing it to leave via the ocular organ.

It was a decidedly unpleasant experience but one he had grown used to over his time in the vortex world and it was most certainly nowhere near as painful as the first time he had found one burrowing its way into his skull… that time had knocked him out regardless of how tough he was as a person.

Looking at his hand that had caught the falling Magatama, Naoki found it quickly becoming inert and curling back up into the almost jewel like shape they always took when not active.

Putting the source of Demonic Power away, he wiped his eye of any blood that had managed to leak before speaking again.

"It's over," and with that she turned to face him once again.

He knew that she didn't like the method behind swapping magatama but she had already asked him to use one to make her a demon, if only to allow her to live alongside him… but in the end the creatures rejected her, something he had tried to contact his 'sponsor' about.

Unfortunately he had received no reply from the Fallen Angel and was simply forced to keep all his magatama on him instead of allowing himself some more permanent company.

He was brought from his thoughts as he _felt_ her wrap her arms around him once again and he proceed to return the hug just like he did the last time, this time finding the embrace comfortable instead of awkward.

It really was wonderful to be capable of feeling contact with someone important to him… sure he was more than happy to focus on the practicality of being immune to all forms of harm but this was one of the rare exceptions where he was willing to leave himself vulnerable.

And it was only because of how much he trusted the woman that held him that he was willing to do so at all.

"Are you two going to cling to each other all day?" he let out a small sigh at the voice that interrupted the tender reunion, though he would admit that the owner of it was easily his second best friend… even if she was nowhere near as understanding as his old teacher.

"It looks like Pixie is getting jealous," he let out a small chuckle upon hearing that claim from Yuko.

"Hmph, I was pretty sure Naoki came here for reasons outside of you clinging to him like a limpet," he almost let out a sigh at the aggression in his first demon partners voice… probably because it always ended up like that whenever the older woman was there.

The fact that it was entirely possible that Pixie really _was _getting jealous wasn't something he really bothered about, they were close and she did a good job of learning how to predict his thought patterns but in the end, the fact she had to work to understand him made their relationship stall at just friends.

Not that he had any problem with that, regardless of how hard she had to try to understand him, the simple fact that she was prepared to put that much effort into trying to understand him proved just how much she really cared for him.

It was just such a shame that they were too different in terms of how they felt emotions to truly connect to each other.

"Come on Pixie-chan, there is nothing wrong with hugging an old friend," he stated softly, hoping the tiny fairy would leave it at that.

"Not when that's all you do," it seemed she was really getting jealous of the human woman given the tone of her voice and the expression on her face.

Then again, she was too small for him to comfortably hug so seeing him being so intimate with someone else was probably not the easiest thing for the red head to deal with.

"Fine then," he gave in, honestly Pixie was his closest companion during his time in the vortex world and so she really was his best friend outside of Yuko, "Yuko, do you mind if I use your computer?"

"Of course not, feel free to use anything here," her response was both expected and heart-warming... he knew he could always count on her to accept his presence regardless of the consequences.

"Thank you," he silently vowed to try and keep his electricity, gas and food costs as low as possible for the woman… putting any of them up would reduce the amount of money she had to spend on herself and he most certainly didn't want that.

But he needed to find a job and what better place to search than online?

He remembered back before the conception, the internet had been big… very big… but it was no longer simply big, now it was almost all encompassing, it permeated every aspect of life and connected to every phone, TV, computer and sometimes even things like microwaves.

The thought of there ever being an advertisement that didn't exist online was now an alien one that Naoki found himself silently laughing at.

In the age of technology, knowing how to use it was essential to blending in and living a decent life.

And so he walked towards his former teachers computer, ready to search for job listings in Tokyo… sorry, Shinto Teito.

XXX XXX XXX

Naoki had to admit, he hadn't expected to get an interview as quickly as he did… though he had lied on his CV, making himself appear younger and less experienced than he really was, he had already discovered that being honest about those facts could result in him being thrown out of the interview for lying on his application.

It seemed to have gone well enough, he could honestly say that much, though just because the interview seemed to go well didn't mean he was guaranteed to get the job, he had learned long ago that his _apparent age_ could get in the way of him being hired especially if they looked too deep into his history and discovered he was supposed to be thirty years old.

Sometimes he wished he had a method of creating new identities for himself but in the age of information connectivity, having a demon hypnotise one person wasn't enough to alter all the information available on you.

He once again released a sigh as he continued to walk along the street and towards the northern district of the city, he could've taken a train or a bus but that would've cost money and he didn't really have much more to do outside of continue his job hunting.

"Excuse me…" a small voice called from beside him causing him to pause and turn to face the owner.

"If you're wondering where the nearest Cosplay convention is, then you'd be better off asking someone else," he stated bluntly upon seeing the girl.

She was certainly cute, he would give her that, what with her cropped, light brown nearly blonde hair, the blue ribbon she wore and her youthful features, she didn't look much older than he did… meaning she was probably in her mid-teens if his estimate was correct.

What made him think she was going to some sort of cosplay convention was the fact that she was wearing a thigh length, one piece dress with a black collar, black stockings, long black gloves and most importantly, had what was clearly a prop to go with the costume.

"Uh… actually… I lost my MBI card," she muttered quietly and with what was clearly an embarrassed flush.

He took a few seconds to figure out the statement before remembering that MBI, the largest company in the world did credit cards alongside technology and pharmaceuticals.

"Well, I'm sorry about that but I've not seen one lying around anywhere," he informed the girl bluntly before his ears caught something that immediately made it clear what the girl was after.

The small girl seemed to flush and make herself smaller as her stomach growled loud enough to be mistaken for a bear… and he actually did know what a bear sounded like given that time he was in Alaska and had come face to face with a Kodiak that had tried to eat him… it lost… badly.

"I see…" he stated before releasing a sigh, why did he have to be so soft? "fine, I'll get you something to eat."

And with that he picked up the girls prop, a very realistic, giant inflatable hammer which he quickly rested on his shoulder before noting the girls wide eyes.

"What?" he asked as she stared at him, "I'm just getting you something to eat before you start to starve, okay?"

"Ah, yes, thank you very much," and with that she started to walk closer to him as he took her to a fast food place he used to visit regularly when he was still in high school, blushing all the way.

XXX XXX XXX

Naoki was definitely regretting feeding the blushing girl, the way she was going through the food right now was just proof of how ludicrous her appetite was and how much it was costing him.

Honestly he was just grateful that he wouldn't have to feed her on a regular basis.

But her appetite had given him pause and made him re-examine the 'prop' that he had carried all the way to the fast food place.

And he quickly realised that it _wasn't _a prop but a genuine hammer bigger than an average adult male… which just went to prove his suspicions that had been raised by the size of her appetite.

She wasn't human.

There was just one question left.

"So, what are you?" he asked her bluntly, there was no reason to be subtle about it, not when she had no reason to continue hiding it from him.

"Huh?" she sounded surprised by his question so he decided to explain himself and show her why she didn't have to hide it.

"The quantity of food you are eating is too great for a human to consume in a single sitting, no matter how hungry they are, the fact that you are not massively obese only reinforces the fact that your digestive capabilities are most likely not human," he explained academically, "plus your hammer is far too heavy to carry as easily as you did with human musculature."

She seemed to shrink in on herself after that brief explanation before asking her own question.

"Then how did you carry it so easily?" her question was perfectly valid and he had his own answer to that question since he had already had Pixie set up a barrier to prevent eavesdroppers.

"Because I'm not human," her head jerked towards him as a shocked expression consumed her face, "at least, not anymore."

That seemed to make her look at him as if he was something she had never heard of before.

"I was born a human but due to certain circumstances I became something else," he admitted, there was no reason to hide his status as non-human from another non-human.

"But… but how?" she seemed shocked at his explanation for his own inhuman abilities.

"That doesn't matter right now," he stated seriously, "what matters, is what you are, if there are more of you and if you are a threat to this city."

She seemed shocked by his questions and shrunk down even more at his demeanour.

"… I can't tell you yet," she sounded nervous and he wondered if it was a trait of her species that they flush all the time.

"Why not?" he asked calmly, he knew that there were times when someone chose not to pass on information not because they didn't want to but because they had to withhold it for certain reasons.

"I… I can't say…" she seemed terrified despite how red her face was.

"I see," he acknowledged what she was saying before asking another question that had stuck in his head, "you mentioned that you cannot tell me yet, which implies that there are certain circumstances where telling me would be acceptable."

She nodded her head which caused him to close his eyes before asking the important question.

"And what would I be required to do to fulfil that condition," he asked, noting how she worried her lip at his question.

"Become my Ashikabi," he frowned at that explanation since it didn't actually explain anything at all.

"And what is an Ashikabi?" his question was obvious to anyone with any common sense.

"An Ashikabi is… and Ashikabi is our destined one," he had to blink at that description, "the one person we will love unconditionally… the person our lives will be forever connected to."

He could do nothing more than stare blankly at the girl as she started to gush over the concept of an Ashikabi before sighing in annoyance.

You couldn't just become an Ashikabi and even if he could, it meant getting too close to a mortal that could very well die within the next hundred years.

"I see," he admitted, honestly he felt that he had managed to get a decent enough picture of the girls personality to tell that she wasn't a threat to the city unless this 'Ashikabi' of hers turned out to be an asshole, "in that case I will bid you farewell."

He noted the look of shock on her furiously blushing face as he proceeded to rise from his seat ready to leave the establishment.

"Wait!" he froze at her desperate call, shocked at the terror in her voice as he was about to leave… he just couldn't comprehend why she would be scared of him leaving.

"What is it?" he asked with a hint of irritation in his tone, the fact was that the girl wasn't going to tell him anything else so their business had come to its conclusion.

"Please," her voice was quivering as she started to make her plea, "please, become my Ashikabi."

What?

"What do you mean 'become your Ashikabi'?" he didn't like where this was going, not one bit.

"You are my Ashikabi," she stated with such conviction in her tone that he was left wondering how she could tell… unless…

"Your species is slightly psychic isn't it?" his guess seemed to be spot on if her reaction to him was anything to go by, which she only acknowledged with a firm nod.

"Yes… we react when our Ashikabi is near," react when their Ashikabi is near? That was when it hit him.

"Do you mean the constant blushing and nervousness?" he asked her calmly, earning another nod off the girl.

He stood in silence as he noted how she was looking at him with both hope and fear on her features.

He didn't want to become her Ashikabi, the thought of getting so close to someone was not something he was enthusiastic about, plus she wasn't human so connecting with her would definitely be harder than it would be to do so with Yuko.

But in the end, he knew from experience that ignoring something like this could be dangerous… and so he made his decision.

"Alright, I will become your Ashikabi," he told her seriously, earning a look of pure joy from the light haired girl.

"Thank you," and with that the girl lean towards him in what he could only call an extremely forward gesture before meeting his lips.

That was when he knew something had gone wrong.

He felt his mana flowing through his mouth and into the girl before him, which he assumed was normal… what he didn't believe was normal was the way her eyes shot open and veins of power started spreading across her body as she let loose an unearthly scream of pain.

If it wasn't for the barrier Pixie had put up previously, he was sure the entire store would be panicking right then but thankfully he had already had the barrier deployed and none of the patrons would notice anything amiss.

Eventually though, the veins of energy erupted from her back in the form of two giant, raven like wings as her eyes turned blood red before she finally passed out on the ground.

"Pixie! Get us to Yuko's place now!" he commanded before feeling the effects of the ability that had caused him so much trouble in Yoyogi park during the conception.

"Naoki-kun? What's going on?" he heard the one person he was closer to than anyone else say.

"No time to explain, check her vitals," and with that his former teacher started to check over the girl that had somehow managed to absorb some of his demonic essence… explanations would come soon but the first thing he needed to do was ensure the girl survived the ordeal of absorbing a demons essence.

And then his phone rang.

XXX XXX XXX

She stared at the screen in disbelief.

"We have a new winging, Number 84 Yashima," one of the many employees stated calmly, "to a thirty year old unemployed man by the name of Kashima Naoki."

"I see, inform the director, he'll want to give the welcoming call himself… like he always does," the man in charge of the operation stated with an exasperated sigh.

"Understood sir," and with that, the message was sent.

She however had another thing on her mind.

Moving away from the screen, she made her way to the bathroom, then again, she was the head of the department so she didn't have to answer to anyone except the Director and Vice-Director themselves.

At least, that is what everyone thought.

The bathroom was clear and without any hesitation she pulled out her phone and dialled a number that no one else in MBI would have.

"_Yes."_

The voice that answered was calm, collected and masculine, possessing an authority that could not be denied.

"We have a problem," were the first words to leave her mouth, "the Hitoshura has become an Ashikabi."

Silence was all she received from the other end of the line until…

"_Continue the plan as normal but keep an eye on the issue, we will deal with him when the time is right."_

"Understood sir."

And with that one statement, she hung up the phone and returned to her position, ready to monitor the new variable.


End file.
